Will Netflix block VPNs?

In May earlier this year, Hulu, the hugely popular movie and TV streaming service blocked a number of VPN users from being able to access its network.

The question on the lips of thousands of Netflix customers in Australia at the moment is whether they will be blocked from accessing the American version of the streaming service. At the moment, Netflix isn’t available in Australia so many Australians reportedly pay for a Netflix subscription and use a VPN to bypass the geo-restrictions put in place. This means that they can ‘virtually’ reside in America, and watch Netflix as Americans do.


However, according to Torrentfreak some members of major entertainment studios including Warner Bros, Twentieth Century Fox and Sony Pictures who are represented by The Australian Home Entertainment Distributors Association (AHEDA) want Netflix to block users or even ban users who use a VPN (Virtual Private Network) to gain access to the service.

Why is this happening? Well, it basically boils down to licensing costs and how rights are handled for TV shows and movies. For example, studios who hold the rights in America lose money when users access content outside of the States, and they aren’t happy about it. Not one bit.

Banning VPNs is wrong!
Of course, it’s impossible to ban all VPN access as Hulu discovered, but it’s also wrong.
For example, an American, who travels to Australia, wouldn’t be able to access their Netflix account even though they have paid for it. That doesn’t seem quite fair, now does it? And if Netflix did bow to down to pressure and block VPN users they would also be blocking Netflix users in the States who use VPNs to protect their private and confidential information. One or two ISPs in the United States have been found to throttle bandwidth and download speeds on many video streaming sites such as Netflix, so many Americans use a VPN to bypass this so that they can stream TV shows and movies without any speeds issues.

A VPN isn’t all about accessing geo-restricted content, it secures devices when using public Wi-Fi and protects your data from prying eyes and also allows you to surf the web anonymously. Privacy tools should be encouraged, not discouraged!

Netflix users have paid for the service; it shouldn’t matter if they are in the US, UK or Australia, they are legitimately paying for it, not illegally downloading the material from a torrent site. TV and movie studios would be wise to remember that!
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